With the increasing number of urban and suburban households having pets, and particularly dogs, local government authorities have enacted ordinances requiring owners to clean up after pets in order to reduce pedestrian hazards and increase public enjoyment of outdoor recreational facilities.
There are many devices known to assist owners in cleaning up their pet's waste. However, many such devices are often unsanitary and only partially effective. These devices which include scoops for shoveling, tongs for grasping waste material, etc. need daily cleaning and leave the remainder of the animal's waste which often spreads over the surfaces of streets, walkways, parks, etc. In using many of the prior art devices, hands of the pet owner become contaminated when cleaning after dogs is required. In such instances, hands have to be washed or disinfected. Understandably so, this often causes substantial inconvenience. Obviously, if the pet owner walks away without cleaning up the animal waste, he or she could be fined by proper authorities
Furthermore, it is difficult to thoroughly pick up the pet waste once deposited on the ground by the devices described above. Thus, there will be some remains left behind making it unclean, and the environmental pollution upon using such devices, cannot be eliminated. Particularly, it is difficult to pick up waste left on the grass and other uneven surfaces. In view of the above, conventional devices are not popular among pet owners.
Thus, it has been long felt and unsolved need to provide a simple and reliable device for picking up animal waste in its entirety, so as to minimize chance of injury to a pet and to eliminate contact between the waste hand of the owner, the device itself, etc.